Will Smith Facts

Will Smith Facts

Will Smith is an American actor, comedian, rapper, producer and songwriter who shot to fame in the 1980s as a rapper known as The Fresh Prince. He was born Willard Carroll Smith Jr. on September 25th, 1968, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Caroline Bright and Willard Carroll Smith, Sr. He has three siblings, an older sister Pamela and younger twins Ellen and Harry. Will Smith attended Overbrook High School and despite having grades to attend college he chose to pursue rap. Will Smith met Jeff Townes at a party in 1985 and together formed DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. They later added Clarence Holmes and released their first single in 1985. In 1990 a TV show was created starring Will Smith called The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Interesting Will Smith Facts:

Will Smith's mother was a school board administrator. His father was a refrigeration engineer.

The rap song Summertime won DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince their first Grammy.

By the time Will Smith was 20 he was a millionaire.

Between 1988 and 1989 Will Smith spent too much money and was found to owe $2.8 million in income taxes. He lost many possessions and his income was garnished. He almost went bankrupt.

In 1990 NBC created a TV show about Will Smith called The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show ran for 6 seasons and was syndicated as a result of its popularity.

Will Smith began appearing in movies while still filming his TV show, including Where the Day Takes You (1992), Made in America (1993), and Six Degrees of Separation (1993).

Will Smith became the very first hip hop artists to be nominated for an Oscar.

Jada Pinkett Smith, who would become Will Smith's wife in 1997, first met him when she auditioned to play his girlfriend on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. She didn't get the part.

Will Smith played Muhammad Ali in 2001 in the movie Ali.

Will Smith has a son Trey with his first wife Sheree Zampino. He has a son Jaden and daughter Willow with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

Will Smith's running catch phrase which is incorporated into all of his movies is "Aw, hell no!" This is similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger's catch phrase "I'll be back!"

Will Smith was offered the role of Neo in The Matrix but chose to do Wild Wild West instead. Wild Wild West turned out to be a box office bomb.

Will Smith has played father and son roles in two films with his son Jaden, The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), and After Earth (2013).

Will Smith was cast in the movie Suicide Squad to play Deadshot (2016).

Will Smith can solve a Rubik's cube in under 55 seconds.

Most of Will Smith's summer blockbuster movies open in July so he has been nicknamed Mr. July in the media.

Will Smith starred in the Men in Black movies along with Tommy Lee Jones.

In 2009 Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Norway. It was to celebrate Obama winning the honor.